Customer Reviews

Duran Duran - Greatest - The Videos (1999) [VHS]

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(31)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Featuring twenty-one songs, and clocking in just short of an hour and forty-five minutes, this compilation of Duran Duran's "greatest" videos is a much more generous and comprehensive overview of the group's wildly inconsistent 17-year career than anything currently available on CD. Well, let's face it, with Duran Duran the videos were always an essential part of the package that completed the (new) romantic promise of their already (fairly) good music.

"Planet Earth" (from 1981) looks amusingly quaint now: the Edwardian frill shirts and Kabuki makeup - along with the stiff-spastic-marionette dancing and Futurist sets - mark this early clip as a quintessential Blitz Kid time-capsule.

The uncensored "Girls on Film" still arouses us as an ever-dubious attempt to merge sub-Roxy Music decadence with a barrage of mid-Eighties Playboy-channel cliches (and I DO continue to relish the sweet sight of that LUSCIOUS boudoir tart straddling a feather-covered phallic pole in her sheer black scanties!). Still, "Girls" never transcends the surface titillation offered by its self-consciously chic litany of soft-core S&M-lite posturings, nor does it really have the guts to explore or confront its own darker implications.

The next video, "The Chauffeur," is the collection's darkly gleaming gem. Shot in intimate, otherworldly black-and-white, this insinuatingly erotic mini-epic about a femme-lesbian rendezvous at a desolate London underground parkade in the dead of night is, I believe, this group's musicodramatic masterpiece. Fluid, rhythmic crosscutting blends together the stark, luminous chiaroscuro imagery to devastating effect. And the ghostly sight of those three sculptured beauties swaying and undulating in their fetishistic undress...ahhh, you won't find anything as deeply or blissfully kinky as THAT on late-night cable these days!

The next three clips, "Hungry Like the Wolf," "Save A Prayer," and "Rio," are all well-known and still entertaining to watch. "Wolf" is the best of the three - as yet another tale of lustful pursuit and orgasmic conquest/submission, it combines cinematic allusions ("Gunga Din," "Bridge Over the River Kwai," and "Apocalypse Now") as camp signposts on a journey into the jungle heart of feral eroticism. "Save A Prayer" has some nice romantic images of Buddhist monuments and native youths stilt-fishing in the Indian Ocean, as well as a few panoramic aerial shots of a sacred plateau and a final procession of saffron-robed monks illuminated by torchlight. "Rio" is exuberantly naive and amateurish - this is the one with them posing on a yacht in the Caribbean, a neat trick which (unfortunately) convinced many that the group really did inhabit a continuous episode of "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous."

"Is There Something I Should Know?" is a rather vague and arbitrary bit of classic New Wave kitsch-cryptic surrealism featuring men in Magritte bowler hats and forbiddingly spare Cubist décor, while "Union of the Snake" is merely a flaccid and indigestible boondoggle of Oriental menace and crude forced sexuality.

While a dandy little song by itself, the video for "New Moon on Monday" badly flubs its potentially intriguing premise - revolutionaries organizing an underground resistance movement in some unidentified Eastern European police state. In what has to be one of the most painful moments in all of music video history, our lads end up feebly pantomiming their exultant chorus like earnest teenage wannabes at a talent(less) competition...while several megatons of pyrotechnics detonate everywhere around them!

"The Reflex" is a colorful and well-made attempt at a fake "live" video - but the teenybopper quotient renders it just a little cringe-worthy. The legendary "Wild Boys" now looks like an hysterically overblown slab of "Thriller"-era excess - complete with absurd post-apocalyptic jungle-gym-cum-torture-rack sets; dizzyingly baroque camera angles and vertiginous cutting; snarling, shaven-headed zombies in alabaster body paint, tribal-dancing and somersaulting with atavistic abandon; our hero suspended from a tattered old windmill and...oh, I could go on, but why bother? On the other hand, "A View to a Kill" - the famed James Bond theme - compensates with a simple self-deprecating wit that makes it stand out as one of Duran X 2's most cleverly inventive and enjoyable videos. "Bon...Simon Le Bon," indeed!

After that we get "the new Duran Duran" - a bit less flashy, a bit more "mature." "Notorious" has some nice footage of lean, wiry female models jiving and strutting but the video is ruined by way too many herky-jery camera movements and worsened by frenzied, dissonant cutting. "Skin Trade" has a more controlled rhythm and makes an appealing use of vivid bright colors and matted backdrops. "I Don't Want Your Love" is still surprisingly fresh and fun...perhaps more so than it was the first time around. "All She Wants Is" is a vaguely DEVOesque domestic statement with a lot of blinding, distorted, hypnotic strobe-neon effects and a pretty, pouting girl that I can either love or leave.

The mid-tempo yawner "Serious" (the only semi-bearable moment from their gawdawful "Liberty" album) is the most negligible of the bunch here, as is the rather pointless retrospective sampling, "Burning the Ground."

"Ordinary World" is a triumphant return to form - gorgeous, melancholy romanticism beautifully realized with classical guitar and the lyrical image of a bride wandering amidst golden-toned boughs of weeping willow trees. "Come Undone" is another great song, although I'm not quite so sure about the video. Hmmm...an aquarium full of exotic sea creatures, a ginger-haired young siren chained underwater, a middle-aged dowdy inserting disparate household objects into a blender, a tortured transvestite confronting himself in the vanity mirror...are these folks all meant to represent displaced personalities who have "come undone"?

The recent (and mildly scandalous) "Electric Barbarella" is a catchy electronic dance ditty that brings Double D full circle (cf. Roxy Music's "In Every Dream-home a Heartache"). This last video - about a battery-operated, remote-controlled, life-sized Barbie-doll that suddenly animates to dizzy, ditzy life - is light-hearted and witty, it's also perversely, artificially sexy like a Pedro Almodovar film. Zap me, Barbie!

[...]
"The word "GREATEST" in the main menu is the key to all the secret stuff. The R, A ,T, S, and T letters are the ones you click on by hitting enter. On DISC ONE - go "inside" the letters. Inside the letter "A" is where the gallery to the LPs are on the white walls. Select an LP to view the video from that Album. There are secret interviews if you click on the next button and then hit the 'up' key on your remote. If it shows an arrow on the title then you can hit enter and you can check out an interview or information about the LP.

DISC 2 Has the same options: "GREATEST" is the secret word to enter into the LP gallery and the selected videos inside the letters. Same letters as in DISC 1 are chosen by hitting the arrow keys on your remote control. Letter "R" takes you to 'Notorious', 'Skin Trade' and 'I Don't Want you Love.' Letter A again takes you to the LP gallery where you can watch the videos that way as well. If you click on 'The Wedding Album" go to the title and it shows you an advert for the LP. Go to the 'Liberty' LP and click on the title and year where you will get to see a great interview and also see the video for 'Violence of Summer'. The Letter T at the end of word "GREATEST" will just tell you that you can pop this CD into you pc for more features."

Like Michael Jackson and Madonna, Duran Duran benefited from MTV as much as MTV benefited from them. In the 1980s, they were the premier video band, specializing in high concept music clips that represented the excess and decadence of that decade. By today's standards, many of their videos may seem cheesy and dated, but they brilliantly captured the essence of Duran Duran and the new romantic movement to which they belonged. Finally, the videos of their hits are compiled on this DVD, and it's already getting complaints from many fans. To them, I say: CALM DOWN. Of course, it'd be great to have a DVD featuring ALL of their music videos, but that wasn't the intent or concept behind "Greatest." Capitol/EMI wanted to do a "Greatest" DVD collection with the same tracklisting of the "Greatest" CD (with two exceptions: this collection has a video to "The Chauffeur" and "Burning the Ground," which are not featured on the CD). Fans have also complained that the hidden bonus features are very difficult to access, and they're right. I spent several minutes clicking my remote to navigate my way towards certain interviews and extended videos and ended up quite frustrated. However, if you go to the band's official website and go to the "Ask Katy" section, you'll find a list of helpful tips to get to the bonus features. Trust me, it's easier than you think. Some of the hidden features include an 18 minute version of "New Moon on Monday," an extended version of "Wild Boys," a club video of "Planet Earth" (this one in particular is a hoot), and other promo clips dating as far back as the early 1980s. While I would have liked a DVD featuring omitted videos like "Careless Memories," "Meet El Presidente," and "Lonely in Your Nightmare," I'm still pleased that I grabbed "Greatest." Yes, the price is a bit steep, but the videos bring back lots of welcome 1980s memories, and the bonus features are fun to watch once you're able to find them.

This must be the best music related video ever made.All 21 videos have their own identity and are totally unique from one another. The video shows us the exciting Duran Duran from the early 1980's and how they changed into today's Duran Duran where they still continue to produce excellent music with quality,unique videos.

"Planet Earth"(the first video) is a video based on a lot of imagination and seems way ahead of it's time.It introduces the whole video perfectly.The next 2 video's,well I am sure most of you will enjoy it.The next 3 video's all come from the Rio album. "Hungry like the wolf" and "Save a prayer"(both shot in Sri Lanka) along with "Rio"(shot in Antigua) give a very exotic look to the video's.Rio,shows 5 absolutely gorgeous guys(as I am told by many female's)on a boat near an island with very colourful and exciting images throughout the video.Save a prayer is a serene song and the video relates perfectly to it with wonderful sunset images and throw's a positive light on a country like Sri Lanka by showing how beautiful it is to live in such a coumtry.A must see video.The next 3 video's were made in 1983 and all 3 have alot of creativity in it particularly "Union of the snake". Although I feel the songs associated with these video's are what make them so special."New moon on Monday" is an extremely interesting video and really does an excellent job in promoting the song.The following year the excellent "Wild boys" video was released.It is based on a book that would have been a film,which unfortunately never materialised until Duran Duran came along and produced an absolutely perfect reflection of what would have been the film.An absolutely great song with a filmlike video. "A view to a kill" is the only James Bond soundtrack to have reached number 1,and it has an equally brilliant video.The video took place in the Eiffel Tower and has that typical James Bond look about it,not to mention some wonderful explosions that occur in this video. "Notorious" shows a different Duran Duran without Andy and Roger and there is a different feel to it too .It has a much more funkier look to it as well but the pretty image of the group is maintained by some pretty dancers. "I don't want your love" and "All she wants is" is a little different from most of their videos but still has a lot of excitement in it. "Burning the Ground" is based on a brilliant idea-it is a medley

of all the great videos produced by the group.I absolutely love the excitement generated in this video. "Ordinary World" is my favourite video.For me the location is perfect,the song is perfect and the wedding images in this video of a pretty bride trying to find her way in a place surrounded by the most beautiful trees has a very romantic and intriguing feel about it.It is a brilliant video with high quality images. "Come undone" emphasizes the creativity in the group by having some of the most beautiful marine creatures coupled with showing how everyday dissapointing situations leads us to wonder to whom can we turn to when we come undone.Finally "Electric Barberella"has a very energy filled look about it and the song perfectly describes the video. Overall it is a must have video for any true Durannie,it is filled with quality.I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to experience real music with excellent videos.You will absolutely love it.

As a long time fan of Duran Duran, I have waited forever for this DVD and it looks and sounds fantastic. The videos never looked better, with colors vibrant and detail sharp. The audio, while only 2 channel stereo, sounds as good as the remastered compact discs. While some minor videos were not included, all of their major hits are here, as well as the never before seen "The Chauffeur". If you are a DD fan I would not hesitate at all to purchase this DVD. The following is info on how to find the Easter eggs included on the discs:

* Go to Union of the Snake on the sub menu, hit the left arrow key, press play or enter on your remote and view the Dancing on the Valentine version.

* Once you have played the first default version of New Moon on Monday, reselecting the video gives you a different version. Similarly, reselecting the uncensored Girls on Film reveals an alternate ending. Ditto Wild Boys for another version.

* Enter Le Galerie de Duran by clicking the 'A' in the word 'GREATEST' on the main menu. This pulls up a gallery featuring the group's album covers and singles sleeves.

When the Planet Earth single sleeve is enlarged, go to the bottom single sleeve (Girls on Film) and press the left arrow button. This takes you to a ''hot spot.'' Press play or enter.

* On the Girls on Film (Short Censored Version) clip, click to enlarge the sleeve. Go to the Play screen icon and press remote's play/enter.

* A Day in the Life featurette is available by highlighting the third single sleeve down while an album sleeve is enlarged. Hit right arrow key and then play/enter.

* While the Seven and the Ragged Tiger sleeve is enlarged, press the up arrow key, then play/enter to hear the band discuss the 1983 LP.

* Watch bandmates chat about the Wild Boys clip by pressing the up arrow key next to the screen's Play icon when its sleeve is enlarged. Hit play/enter. The group's John and Andy Taylor discuss the 007 View to a Kill clip, too. While on that sleeve, go to the Play icon, hit the right arrow, press play/enter.

* On the second DVD, enter Le Galerie as on the first disc. To see the Liberty album's press kit, highlight that album's sleeve, slide to the left top single sleeve and press the up arrow key, then play/enter. Also, enlarge the Serious single sleeve, go to its parent album Liberty and press the right arrow key, then play/enter.

* Enlarge the Come Undone sleeve. Go to Play icon, press left arrow key, then play/enter.

First off, there are some who will balk at this collection of videos, wondering where their other favorites are. These individuals will undoubtedly be disappointed with "Greatest" as they feel a need for an overly comprehensive (read: exhaustive) look into the highs and lows that were Duran Duran videos.

As the title implies, this DVD is about one thing and one thing only: their greatest video hits. And to that end, this does not disappoint by any means. All cuts are chronological and have superb sound and are visually appealing. From the somewhat campy song that paid homage to the source of their monniker ("Electric Barbarella") to the manic, fast-paced, equally campy "Hungry like the Wolf," "Greatest" gives us Duran Duran at their best. Whether dressed for success in the decade of excess or playing it low-key like lounge singers ("Come Undone"), this collection will bring back the memories of a band that had--and has--more potential than most realize.

Filled with hidden alternate versions of videos--"Planet Earth," "Girls on Film," "Union of the Snake," "New Moon on Monday," "Wild Boys," "Serious," and "Come Undone"--as well as interview footage and still galleries, "Greatest" celebrates a band whose legacy is as far-reaching as ever. Well-deserving of its title, this is truly a wonderful own for a hard-core Duran Duran fan or even the casual listener, and it will please both naysayers and anyone who truly appreciates well-crafted, original videos and thought-provoking, memorable music.

Are you kidding me! Duran Duran used to be the band that presented their material in a completely lush, artistic manner, quite beyond the pale of typical popular-music acts of their time, and look at this lousy DVD package! Makes me want to weep.

First of all, the package design is just a remake of the VHS box of a few years back. Second, printing varnish as an ink is just stupid, can't even read the fine print. And where's the print-outs and booklets packed with photos of the band? The inner-sleeves of varied colored bars is just stupid waste of space!

Second is the navigation - it's confusing and irritating and is the lamest easter-egg hunt I've ever went on! I never did find the hidden footage and it's so complicated that I don't even want to now. It isn't worth the effort. This is hands-down the stupidest DVD interface I have ever seen. I mean having the letter "T" as a sub-choice menu: what does that even mean?

Last are the videos themselves: I'm sorry, but these are mastered poorly! There is a ton of film grain everywhere and artifacts galore! This is the crappiest mastered video I have ever seen on a music DVD collection yet! These plush videos deserve better treatment than this, c'mon!

And the price is outrageous! I feel ripped-off. This turkey isn't worth more than twelve dollars at best. One reviewer makes a good point when they ask why older videos aren't included. Why not include some live footage as well. What about adding voice-over commentary by the band, laughing about making these wonderful videos?

Face it, Duran Duran probably didn't have anything to do with the making of this crappy product. This is the product of a money-grubbing record company if I ever saw one!
Lame product! Ignore it. I'm sorry I wasted my money. Can anyone say REFUND!

To an unknowledgable Duran Duran non-fan, the band which originated in Birmingham in 1978 meant one thing -- classic videos. Heck, even the most diehard of fans will (grudgingly or otherwise) admit that this band did some of its finest work on film. So the thought of having a complete Duran Duran video collection should be electrifyingly exciting, a real EVENT to celebrate over.

The fact that it isn't is a bit disturbing.

This DVD collection could've been the perfect opportunity to introduce rarer videos to the masses, who would've only been able to recall the scenes from "Hungry Like the Wolf", "Rio", "The Reflex", and "Save a Prayer" (and "Ordinary World" and "Come Undone" if they were awake in the '90s), and indeed it is a bit encouraging to see some priceless rarities offered as "Easter eggs" (including a truly outstanding ten-minute interview session from the Liberty era on the second disc). That the default video for "New Moon on Monday" on the first disc is the extended filmic version that was shelved for two decades before its inclusion on this collection is also a delight.

But EMI could've offered so much more in this package.

Your average non-fan, or even casual "fan" who purchased Rio and Seven & The Ragged Tiger, went to any one of the concerts during the 1984 tour, and then dropped the band like a bad habit when it temporarily morphed into Arcadia and Power Station, might not have a clue about what certain videos look like, or that there were such videos in existence at all. "Careless Memories", "Lonely in Your Nightmare", "My Own Way", "Meet El Presidente", "Do You Believe in Shame?", "Femme Fatale", "Too Much Information", "Breath After Breath" -- all of these Duran songs had accompanying videos, videos that should've been on this collection, but weren't included in the package, not even as "Easter eggs".

And that is one heck of a shame.

Because of this, this video collection gives off an aura of being Yet Another EMI Cash Cow, another way the band's former record company are trying to milk the band's legacy for all it's worth. Because of this, and because this DVD release could only ever attract the die-hard completist and the casual semi-fan mentioned above, the compilation could not, nor could it ever fairly get, a five-star rating, or even a four-star rating. The inclusion of the filmic version of "New Moon on Monday" and the Liberty-era "Easter egg", as well as the inclusion of the underrated video "The Chauffeur" and the video for the underrated "Electric Barbarella", earn the release its three stars, but if it didn't include the aforementioned, it would seriously run the risk of being Yet Another Excuse for the semi-fan to giggle over the scenes of Simon emerging from that god-forsaken river, or John running on the beach and dropping yet again in front of the swimsuit-clad model, and pretend that they're '80s teenagers all over again.

As always, I guess, the Band's former label doesn't know the best videos from the so-so. Where are such classic (if not the greatest) mind tripping videos like "TOO MUCH INFORMATION", "WHITE LINES" or merely just others like "VIOLENCE OF SUMMER"? I hope Hollywood Records sees this. Remember, we duranies want everything the band does on video (or whatever), even if it takes two or three tapes to do it with. If you don't someone else will... Just like the recent 1999 8 hr Compilation tape set I recently acquired. Over 75 title hits from 1979- 1999. Sound quality- very good. The songs themselves are fantastic- all remixed and re-edited. I wish the new label would release something similiar...yeah right. I'm glad I came across it.(bootleg,but what the hell-it kicks A)

I love Duran Duran and, in spite of reading the reviews here about the hidden goodies, I spent the bucks to obtain it. Okay, so oops, there goes another rubber tree plant. Who put this package together, and are they hiding out where frustrated Duranies can't get them, because I'm starting up a possie! I'm over 40, not 4, never went hunting for a friggin' basket of goodies as a kid, and don't want to start now. Couldn't we just have a nice little section of extras like they give you on a movie DVD menu? I guess not.

Anyway, I know we're not supposed to mention other reviewers in our reviews, but I would like to thank Mr. Huang for his helpful clues in going to power DVD on my computer and finding all the bonus material in the gallery, which is under letter "A" in GREATEST. So far, it's the only place I can get it to work, because my DVD player won't do it. That's alright, because my computer has a great screen!

Other than the navigational problems, I really like this collection, and think that it encapsulates the band in a good light. Trust me, the extras are worth it! All you have to do in the gallery is hit the right hand side of your mouse and you will find arrows at the top of certain albums. Those are the ones that contain the footage. Fave videos have to be the gorgeous "Save a Prayer," particularly since a lot of the location probably got destroyed by that nasty tsunami, "Is There Something I Should Know," and the comical "Electric Barbarella." I hope I helped anyone who is having trouble finding all the extra goodies, and I hope you enjoy the collection if you buy it. It's well worth the money.